When Did Metabolism First Originate? (IMAGE)

EMBO

When Did Metabolism First Originate?

Caption

A reconstruction of Earth's earliest ocean in the laboratory revealed the spontaneous occurrence of the chemical reactions used by modern cells to synthesize many of the crucial organic molecules of metabolism (bottom pathway). Whether and how the first enzymes adopted the metal-catalyzed reactions described by the scientists remain to be established.

Credit

<em>Molecular Systems Biology</em>

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